Parenting

Full of helpful advice for families starting to think about their child's bat or bar mitzvah, Bar & Bat Mitzvah For The Interfaith Family will be a helpful primer to all families (not just interfaith!).

Hanukkah Booklet

This booklet explains the history of Hanukkah, the symbolism and significance of lighting candles for eight nights, the blessings that accompany the lighting of the candles, the holiday's foods, the game of dreidels, and more!

Organizations

Connecting Interfaith Families to Jewish Life in Greater Cleveland by providing programs and opportunities for interfaith families to experience Judaism in a variety of venues, meet other interfaith families, and to connect to other Jewish organizations that may serve their needs.

For Program Providers

A great way for Jewish professionals and volunteers who work with and provide programming for people in interfaith relationships to locate resources and trainings to build more welcome into their Jewish communities; connect with and learn from each other; and publicize and enhance their programs and services.

Blogs

We Should Learn From Esther, Who Married Outside Her Community to Save Her People

By Sarah Flicker

This article originally appeared in the Forward and is reprinted with permission. Visit www.forward.com. For subscription information, call 1-866-399-7900.

I grew up as the model "good Jewish girl." I attended day school. At college, I taught part time at a Hebrew school and was vice president of my university's Hillel chapter. I even worked for the Jewish community after graduation. Yet when I started dating a Buddhist, I suddenly felt that the community that raised me did not have space for me anymore. My boyfriend was excited about Judaism; he was curious about exploring and learning more about the community and tradition. He was supportive of my creating a Jewish house for us to share. But that didn't seem to count for much.

Unfortunately, every major Jewish spiritual institution--and most of the communal ones as well--that I turned to held to a party line that interfaith relations were to be discouraged. Some of the more progressive communities in Toronto were open to interfaith families but would not condone marriages. At nearly every service that we have attended together, we have felt uncomfortable and out of place. As I started talking to my friends about this issue, I quickly learned that many of them had also been disappointed by the Jewish community. My friends in interfaith relationships experienced similar ostracism. My gay friends complained that they felt most Jewish institutions were homophobic. Many of my progressive pals thought that their leftist political views were unwelcome in their synagogues (particularly in these days of girding for war against Iraq). Some of my friends had had such poor experiences that they no longer wanted to have anything to do with the Jewish community. Yet these were people who, like me, had grown up in the very bosom of their vibrant Jewish communities.

Today, these friends and acquaintances do not attend synagogue. They do not sit on the boards or committees of any Jewish organizations. They do not feel like they are represented or even heard by Jewish organizations and institutions. And this is not an apathetic or uneducated group. Most of my friends are self-avowed activists who participate on the boards of community-based progressive institutions in Toronto. They attend rallies and political forums. They organize protests. They belong to clubs and other extracurricular activities. They fundraise. They are young professionals who work as lawyers, social workers, accountants, public-policy bureaucrats, writers and educators. These are precisely the kind of accomplished, caring, committed individuals the Jewish community wants to reach.

The irony is that these people all miss the sense of community they experienced while growing up. They long for a place and a space that is welcoming and inclusive to Jews who have made alternative lifestyle choices but who still want a connection to their history and tradition.

One of the people I talked to about this matter was Shimon Felix, an Orthodox rabbi and the director of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel. He was sure what the answer to this problem ought to be: "Nu, what are you waiting for? Start something, Sarah. We'll fund it." And so it came to be. I wrote a grant application to the Bronfman Foundation for seed funding to start a Progressive Jewish Circle in downtown Toronto. We were awarded $1,500 as a start-up fund. We sent out e-mails and talked to friends. The response was overwhelming.

Last week we held our first Friday night services. Twenty people gathered in my living room. Many more sent their regrets and expressed keen interest in being informed about future gatherings. Together we welcomed the Sabbath and joined together in transliterated and translated prayers. We sang traditional melodies, perhaps somewhat off-key, but with great enthusiasm and hope. We celebrated the vision of an alternative community that we were creating. We discussed creating our own regularly held services and how we would organize and congregate. We decided that the goal of the group would be to create a welcoming, creative, inclusive, gay-positive and interfaith-friendly space for young Jewish adults (and their partners and friends) who do not feel that they necessarily fit into traditional Jewish institutions.

After dinner, I offered a dvar Torah (interpretation of a text) on the significance of holding our first meeting shortly before Purim and how we can rethink and re-appropriate the Purim story. Several years ago, one of my teachers, Rabbi Michael Paley, told me it was a shame that the "twice-a-year Jews" came to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He postulated that if the disenfranchised Jewish population were going to pick two holiday services to attend, we would have a much happier people if they chose such celebratory festivals as Simchat Torah and Purim.

I believe we can also think of Purim in another light. Purim is essentially a story about an interfaith relationship that "saves the day." Our Jewish community spends a great deal of time and energy thinking about issues of continuity, and as part of that discussion there is much time devoted to impeding, decrying and bemoaning modern-day interfaith relationships. In the midst of all this we have forgotten that every spring our people congregate and read the Megillat Esther, a story that shows how an interfaith relationship created the possibility for Jewish continuity. Rather than assimilation being the result, Esther was able to save her people and her faith through marrying outside of it. It is also a story about a woman coming "out of the closet" about her identity, and being loved and accepted regardless.

It is time to rethink and retell the story of Purim, to read the story of Esther as a story of Jewish feminist activism. It is a story about inclusion, continuity and hope. It is a story about a woman and her uncle seeking to change the history of the Jewish people through creative, innovative means. Perhaps it is time that the larger Jewish community begins to learn the lessons of Shushan and imagine alternative possibilities for change and continuity. Rather than continuing to ostracize those who care deeply and passionately about their Jewish heritage, it is time to welcome us back into the fold.

Hebrew for "Scroll of Esther" (or, Book of Esther), the biblical book read on the holiday of Purim. Hebrew for "Head of the Year," the Jewish New Year. With Yom Kippur, known as the High Holy Days.Hebrew for "Joy of Torah," a fall holiday that celebrates the completion of the yearlong Torah cycle and the commencement of a new one.Hebrew for "word of Torah," a lesson or sermon based on the weekly reading of the Torah.Hebrew for "Day of Atonement," the final of ten Days of Awe that begin with Rosh Hashanah. Occurs during the fall and is marked by a 24-hour fast. One of the most important Jewish holidays. A language of West Semitic origins, culturally considered to be the language of the Jewish people. Ancient or Classical Hebrew is the language of Jewish prayer or study. Modern Hebrew was developed in the late-19th and early 20th centuries as a revival language; today it is spoken by most Israelis. Hebrew for "lots," referring to the lots cast by Haman, the story's antagonist, to determine the date on which to kill the Jewish people. It's a spring holiday commemorating the Jewish people's triumph. The story is told through the biblical Book of Esther; the namesake heroine, a Jewish woman, marries the Persian king. Their interfaith relationship is central to the story.Hebrew for "my master," the term refers to a spiritual leader and teacher of Torah. Often, but not always, a rabbi is the leader of a synagogue congregation.

Sarah Flicker is a doctoral student in public health at the University of Toronto. For additional information about the Progressive Jewish Circle, please e-mail Sarah.Flicker@utoronto.ca.